Columnist Dean Juipe: Islanders relying on Tua, fate

Dean Juipe

Friday, Nov. 10, 2000 | 10:30 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

National pride has played a peripheral and sometimes significant role in promoting many a professional fight. A forthright promoter will tell you that under ideal conditions he'll have a fighter in one corner who has nothing in common -- including skin color and citizenship -- with the man in the other.

Natural adversaries make perfect sense for a sport that relies on an emotional attachment between the fighter and the fan.

As a result, in all parts of the world fighters are frequently matched not only by ability but by nationality. It's true in Asia, it's true in Europe and, closer to home, it's true here with Mexicans and African-Americans.

While Saturday's heavyweight title fight between Lennox Lewis and David Tua at Mandalay Bay does not meet this adversarial standard per se, in that England and Western Samoa likely couldn't care less about one other, it is loaded with patriotism on the Samoans' side. The island nation and its peoples have invested a terrific amount of energy into Tua and his quest for the championship, and they will be brokenhearted should he lose.

So will the good folks at America Presents, which promotes Tua.

Say this for Tua: For never having appeared in a major fight, he and his followers are convinced he's going to win. Spurred on by Tua's own claims that a victory over Lewis has been preordained as part of some exotic destiny, those who work with the fighter or share his heritage or spirituality expect him to make good on his heartfelt promise.

They're indifferent that Lewis is an Englishman; he could be an Ethiopian or a German for all they care. They're simply caught up in the symbolic nature of Tua's quest to bring attention and its benefits to any and all islanders and their seemingly distant culture.

And he might very well win.

Tua is a compact slugger who will, without any doubt whatsoever, bring a not-to-be-denied mentality into the fight. His absolute best effort is assured.

He's going to keep boring in on the taller Lewis and keep throwing heavy punches no matter what type of resistance he meets. He's going to come at Lewis with all the tenacity of a pneumatic drill.

He's going to be stuck on "on" the entire fight.

How Lewis fends off this nonstop assault will, to a great extent, determine the fight. Tua isn't going to surprise him, so Lewis, in theory, should have his defensive strategies in order.

He has to keep Tua at bay with his reach advantage and pop his aggressive pursuer with some stinging blows of his own. He has to remain calm, or as calm as possible, and attempt to gain favor with the judges in the event a knockout isn't in the cards.

With two big hitters going at it, most in the live crowd of 12,000 and in the pay-per-view audience will be expecting a KO finish. But that type of dramatic conclusion may not necessarily fall into place, as willpower and fortitude may allow each man to weather any number of serious storms.

It could go the 12-round distance; if it does, it would seem to favor Lewis.

The guess here -- and it is a guess when you get right down to it -- is that Lewis somehow prevails. His height and his experience are serious advantages, even if his challenger is here on a mission from his benevolent God.